I had the same immediate thought, but I think (as the product provider) it's quite a scary kind of friction to add. Customers already understand the standard subscription model/risk. Adding escrow means they have to learn about a new layer, evaluate it, etc. all in addition to doing the same for your own product.
Plus, never underestimate the ability of funnel customers to just flat out not understand something that seems simple to you. Deviating from norms IME leads to a big drop off. So the value of deviating has to be enough to overcome that.
Free trial is far from the norm. Where else in life does an average person get free trials? Whatever you buy, 99% of the time—be it electronics, clothing, etc.—you make the full payment up front, and if you return it you get a refund. You don’t just issue a chargeback if you didn’t like you new jacket; you don’t get a free trial on a washing machine.
Subscription model is not the norm either (and if you ask me, it’s among the worst models ever when it comes to small focused software of the kind Rogue Amoeba makes).
A major benefit (which, frankly, is a surprise to me that it’s even worth mentioning) is that refunds is the most intuitive process to handle it. Us weathered tech geeks have an intuitive grasp of the shareware business model; however, we are a minority.
I think compared to 'a new escrow platform' (which was the GGP), free trial is vastly more understood. I don't disagree that refunds are a better model, at least for my personal preferences, but most people who have used an app store understand free trials (even if they dislike them).
> most people who have used an app store understand free trials (even if they dislike them).
As far as I know, App Store doesn’t have an option for an actual free trial followed by a one-time purchase (the kind old geeks like me know back from shareware times). If you try to emulate it and make your app stop working after some time unless a payment is made, it will be rejected by the App Store. Instead, it has 1) IAP, which many developers abuse by promoting a “free version” with crippled functionality and possibly full of ads, non-stop upselling you the next subscription tier; and 2) refunds.
I think lack of trials isn’t an issue: there’s no reason an average customer should be even required to understand this concept if refunds (familiar to anyone since forever) exist. Meanwhile, abusing IAPs this way leaves a bad taste, and I don’t think in 15+ years I have purchased a single app using this model.
As a developer, you also don’t want to burden yourself by having to provide support to customers who have not paid yet and, probabilistically, in all likelihood never will pay.
Plus, never underestimate the ability of funnel customers to just flat out not understand something that seems simple to you. Deviating from norms IME leads to a big drop off. So the value of deviating has to be enough to overcome that.